Christine (real name Héloïse Letissier) and the Queens (her drag queen backing band) are a French band that have made a stand in indie freak pop. Héloïse, who now regularly goes by Christine, began this project back in 2010 when she found comfort from a heartbreak playing instruments with transvestite musicians, who would later become the Queens. The band has been on a fierce rise in France bringing home awards at Victoires de la Musique 2015 (France’s Grammy Awards) and is in the U.S. this year in support of a U.S. album release. The band combines a reserved pop sound with the type of catharsis you’d expect if Hamlet were struggling with gender and sexuality today.
“Jonathan,” off their 2015 self-titled EP, starts slow and remains broken throughout, reflecting the singer’s desperation at the lack of recognition from her lover. “Jonathan” features Mike Hadreas (Perfume Genius) singing along with Christine as they alternate verses and come together for the chorus. While a lot of the band’s work emanates a quiet strength in despair, “Jonathan” never loses its hopelessness. Instead of a fight, the singer here has resigned to never getting an answer to their question, “est-ce que’ailleurs je ne t’appartiens pas?” (“Is it I don’t belong to you elsewhere?”).